peelfandomcom-20200213-history
Slim Whitman
' Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr.' (January 20, 1923 – June 19, 2013), known professionally as Slim Whitman, was an American country music and western music singer, songwriter and instrumentalist known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high three octave range falsetto. He stated that he had sold in excess of 120 million records. In the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley.Although once known as Americas Favorite Folk Singer, he was consistently more popular throughout Europe, and in particular the United Kingdom, than in his native America, especially with his covers of pop standards, film songs, love songs, folk tunes and melodic gospel hymns. His 1955 hit single "Rose Marie" held the Guinness World Record for the longest time at number one on the UK Singles Chart for 36 years until Bryan Adams broke the record in 1991 and was listed in British Hit Singles & Albums. In the US his "Indian Love Call" (1952) and "Secret Love" (1953) both reached number two on the Billboard country chart. Whitman had a string of hits from the mid-1960s and into the 1970s and became known to a new generation of fans through television direct marketing in the 1980s. Throughout the 1990s and into the 21st century, he continued to tour extensively around the world and release new material, Whitman garnered a new generation of fans when his music was featured in the 1996 film Mars Attacks!, where everytime an old lady (played by Sylvia Sidney) and her resourceful grandson (Lukas Haas) plays his music, the heads of the invading aliens explode. His last album, Twilight on the Trail, produced by his son Byron Whitman was a cover of western standards including the Gene Autry single Back in the Saddle Again and was released in 2010. Links To Peel As a fan of traditional country music and yodelling, Peel since his childhood was a fan of Slim Whitman and on his show from 08 September 1991, he felt wounded when Simon Mayo was taking fun on Slim Whitman's record "Rose Marie". Peel responded by stating: "Nothing in the news, I note, about the Bryan Adams record, because there was at 11.30. Apparently it's been number one for ten weeks, and the only record that's been number one longer was 'Rose Marie' by Slim Whitman. The other day, I heard Simon Mayo, in what I'm sure is called something like 'the Morning Posse', rather taking the mickey actually out of 'Rose Marie' by Slim Whitman, which wounded me, and I tried to find a copy of it at home to play to you without interrupting it with clever remarks, but unfortunately couldn't find a copy. I used to sing it at school, and rather prettily as well." On occasions and on the Pig's Big 78, Peel would often play Slim Whitman's music and would reminiscent on when he was young listening to him. Other Shows Played (The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.) ;1982 *18 November 1982: China Doll ;1983 * 06 July 1983: Tumbling Tumbleweeds ;1988 * Peel November December 1988 Lee Tape 23 / 28 November 1988: I'm Casting My Lasso Towards The Sky ;1992 *29 February 1992: Chimebells (Various Artists CD - Yodelling Crazy) EMI (JP: "The first truly indispensable LP of 1992? I should say so.") ;2000 *05 July 2000: Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain ;2001 *31 October 2001: Lovesick Blues (Pig's Big 78 2001) ;2003 *23 January 2003: 'I'm Casting My Lassoo Towards The Sky (LP- Slim Whitman and his Singing Guitar Vol.2)' (London) *05 June 2003 (Radio Eins): (Sample of Slim on) Music Alone by People Like Us External Links *Wikipedia *Discogs *Obituary Category:Artists